Coward
by wombat-of-awesomeness
Summary: "Sometimes, Thalia would admit to herself that she was a coward. After all, isn't that why she was a hunter in the first place?" A look at Thalia's life post everything. Happy birthday MostDefinitelyFlorentine!


**A/N: This fic is dedicated to my lovely friend, MostDefinitelyFlorentine, who could be Thalia's sister in personality. And of course, I mean that in the best way possible! Please read and review!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Thalia, or any other characters in this one-shot. All of the credit goes to Rick Riordan (Uncle Rick) 

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Sometimes, Thalia would admit to herself that she was a coward. After all, isn't that why she was a hunter in the first place? She had been scared to face Luke, afraid that she wouldn't win, and most certainly unsure of whether or not she was on the right side. Artemis' offer had simply come at the right time.

Coward as she was, Thalia had to say that immortality was NOT all it was cracked up to be. Sure, she never aged, was never alone, and could never die (except in battle, she reminded herself), but there were some downsides that weren't exactly well advertised.

For one thing, she didn't exactly get along with some of her fellow huntresses. And sometimes, she understood why they hated her. There she was, a brand new hunter with no experience what so ever, lieutenant. That had to strike a nerve with some of them. For another thing, Thalia's leading techniques were about as different from Zoë's as you could get. To make matters even worse, Thalia had (gasp) mortal friends. Some of them were even _*boys*._

That was another thing that she hadn't thought about when she had accepted the goddess' offer-her friends. A small part of her had known that she wouldn't get to see them all that often, but that was all she thought of them. The daughter of Zeus had not realized that her friends would grow up, would live their lives, would _die_, and she would still be a day from sixteen.

In fact, the blue-eyed girl had thought nothing of it until Annabeth and Percy's wedding. Sure she was happy for them, but at the same time, she wasn't. Because this was the little girl who she'd discovered on the streets. This was the awkward teenage boy who had been the first to talk to her when she had awoken. They were still children, right? 'Except,' Thalia told herself, 'they weren't'. They were adults now, they were the same as the people who had tried to catch her and Luke and Annabeth while they were on the run because, "Children shouldn't be out alone!"

Eventually, Thalia grew used to the idea that she would be the same forever, but that didn't make watching every thing else change any easier. But seeing Jason's fifteen year old daughter, now that was weird. How could her baby brother have a child that was as old as she was? In her mind, Jason would always be the teenaged boy who wasn't sure who he loved.

Now, Thalia stands at the place where she was once quite literally rooted to the ground-half-blood hill. Around her, children spar, and play, and train just like they always have. But everything has changed. There is now a Roman flag next to the Greek sign-proof that the two camps now work together.

Thalia is sure that soon another inquisitive young child of Athena will run up to her, and ask just what it was like to know Percy Jackson. Or demand to know just how smart Annabeth Chase really was. Maybe there'll be another teen who just has to know how well Jason Grace really fought. And Thalia is sure that she'll tell them exactly what she told the others. That yes, Percy really was as heroic as the myths say, that Annabeth probably knew every thing, and that Jason fought with the structured style that was uniquely his own.

The hunter is always hopeful that maybe the demigod will want to know more about the heroes that she called friends. That maybe someone will be willing to listen to her talk about how Percy loved blue food, or how Annabeth would squint while she sketched out new buildings, or maybe how Jason's eyes lit up whenever he laughed. The huntress would even love to remind them of the bad things, the things that made them human. But no body listened. Thalia has to resign herself to the fact that these demigods don't see them as people, they see them as legends.

But at the end of the day, Thalia gets up, walks to the Artemis cabin, and laughs with her friends. By now, any resentment at her being lieutenant had all but disappeared. And Thalia would remind herself every night that she had a family now. That Percy and the others may be gone, but they weren't forgotten. That she still remembers them, and that's all she can really do.

And sometimes, Thalia has to admit to herself that she is glad that she was a coward.

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**A/N: So that was kind of rambley. I'm sorry for that. I hope I accurately portrayed Thalia, please tell me what you thought! **


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